Heading into an industry of emotional abuse

As I watched the video showing men reading tweets to female journalists, all I could think about was that this is what I’m getting myself into. These women are sports journalists, exactly the occupation I want to have. It was extremely sad, frustrating, disappointing, and appalling knowing that people say these terrible things. Most of these people would never say these things to the journalists’ faces, but they feel that they can because they are behind a computer or phone screen. Although I may receive inappropriate or harsh tweets as a female journalist, I have a strong desire to change how people view women in the industry. I want people to know that women are very knowledgeable in sports and know what they’re talking about. Female sports journalists know more about what they’re covering than most “sports guys” who direct mean comments towards them.

Although the video was posted along with an article about the situation, I think the video spoke for itself and could stand on its own. It was a very effective and powerful piece of journalism and got the message across without telling the audience anything about it beforehand. I think videos addressing serious issues make a bigger impact than simply reading an article about the same issue because it gives the audience a visual and an emotional response. Getting men to read the tweets to Sarah Spain and Julie DeCarlo made it more gut-wrenching than if the reporters were to be reading them alone. The real emotion on the men’s faces showed they were truly sorry on behalf of those who tweeted. It made it personal for them to read them aloud and showed that people probably wouldn’t say these things in person.